My personal observations; inspired by life experiences and the world around me. My own revelations; thoughts; snippets of wisdom; random insanity; blunt honesty. I hope to attempt in some small way to be insightful; or not so much. Some laughter, a few tears but mostly just... ME!
The thoughts, views and comments written here are mine alone and written from the beliefs I have developed, from the observations, actions and words of others.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Pick your song!!!

I found a few videos on YouTube I felt appropriate for what is going on around us. First is; Should I Stay or Should I Go? Many people struggle with the decision of leaving to preserve benefits taken by the mayor. The second video sums up the feelings of many in this; Health Insurance video. This last video is being played for the mayor by over 100 of our finest officers who are leaving a job they love. I hope the mayor likes Johnny Paycheck; he is going to be hearing a lot of him over the next 50 days.

The satirical humor is getting brutal around Headquarters. There is a group retiring who have begun calling themselves, "Gerry's Unenthusiastic Kid's" ; then there is a group who have taken on, "Kicked to the Curb Club" ; or the group calling themselves, "Gerry's Other Casualties" . There were others but I will stick to my pledge to keep the profanity out of my writings. The numbers are growing daily. I predict when the dust settles and the summer begins in full swing (July 1) the San Diego Police Department will have lost 140 of our most experienced, dedicated, professional; managers, supervisors, investigators, and officers.

I found it interesting today to see one of the City Council members pontificating on about "all those retiring are getting 'bonuses' from the City" when they sell or convert their annual leave upon retirement. I could not control my initial thoughts. This guy is a true idiot!!! Selling back earned annual leave is a "BONUS" to this maroon. My guess is the mayor's minions did not factor in (or did not share with council) the amount of money the city would be required to shell out when the most senior of employees left city service. Think of the numbers for a minute. Let's assume the average person with 30 year's service is holding 500 hours of annual leave. Multiply the 500 by the salary of the employee; let's use a Sergeant's base of $43.00 an hour (I'm picking a number for argument sake); the city is shelling out $21,500 for this ONE employee. Now for the San Diego Police Department we are looking at 140 sworn members leaving and taking an average of this $21,500 for a grand total of $3,010,000. That's right folks, three million dollars.

1 comment:

Retired Captain
said...

Sparky, keep the posts coming. I'm one of the retired old timers and can tell you from the e-mails being passed around you are hitting some very sensitive nerves. The Mayor's brother-in-law, a retired Lieutenant from the department, has been doing his level best to defend the actions of the Mayor. He has been bloodied a bit in the process. Most if not all of the retired folk see through this and know full well who and what the Mayor is. He was a shitty Chief, a carpet bagging appointee for a couple of non profits and now the biggest joke San Diego has ever had as a Mayor. I was around during the Pete Wilson era; This mayor makes Pete seem like a nice guy who cared about employees. Watch your back fella; Gerry is a vindictive power hungry egotist who will do whatever it takes to quiet anyone who has the gal to speak out against him.

About Me

Veteran of the San Diego Police Department who retired on 12/30/2011, after 32 years 8 months; San Diego native born and raised; Fed up with the treatment of government workers at the hands of a mayor and city council who do not value the public's interest or safety. Retired from a career in Law Enforcement that for the most part has been entertaining if not educational. I spent 12 years (1994-2006) as a Trustee for the Poway Unified School Districts Board of Education. I also served two stints as a Director for the San Diego Police Officer's Association. Politics has taught me a lot about people. I would be hard pressed to find something good about politics and politicians. So I write